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INTRO
Getting into or getting back into sport is a subject often discussed in my practice. This may be difficult for some, but it is ultimately doable if we put things in the right place in our mind while following a logical path. Many people feel the need to do this, and I decided to make this post and set up an online video program to help them.
In many cases, the intention is there; we want to train regularly and find a healthy balance between sport and other activities. But sometimes we try to play a sport and then we stop. After a few months or years, we try again, and for some reason we quit again. As we age, we face increased responsibilities and worries, decreased free time, and increased excuses for not achieving what we would like.
In a stereotypical culture, we are athletic or not. It's binary. Add the culture of appearance, which before any action so and so is sporty and the other is not according to his physiognomy. As if everything was predetermined according to its aspect. This does not help us much to establish good habits for a better balance in life.
I Sport, why? Let's put sport back in its place...
The role of sport seems clear to me: it is an additional element that allows you to have a more fulfilling life today and tomorrow with yourself, your loved ones and your daily activities.
Indeed, sport must be a tool for managing our emotions, improving our physiology and purifying our physical and psychological systems. Thus, when finished, we have better physical, cognitive and mental resources that help us to have better relationships with ourselves, our loved ones, our colleagues and our neighbors. So sport is not an end in itself, but a booster for a better life. Sport should be fun and a way to make all the other activities in your life more enjoyable.
The place of the pros
Professional sport inspires many people with the values of work, perseverance, ambition, courage, fair play and resilience. But it is also the fact of carrying a billboard for clothes, equipment and drinks that they themselves do not consume! Ronaldo underlined this with the presence of soda bottles during a Euro 2021 press conference.
We can't blame them, They have to live and support their families. The stress is real, a team contract that is not renewed due to injury or
of a pregnancy and which turns out to be a permanent dismissal in a world where there is no other employer across the street… We must have real respect for these people without ignoring the reality of this industry. Because it is indeed an industry. In cycling, before the compulsory wearing of helmets, coaches claimed that the cap was only used for one thing: to display the name of the sponsor!
The slippery amateur
When the amateur uses sport intensively to slide into bigorexia, As a result, it passes from the status of a tool for a better life (health, social, professional) to that of sport as an end in itself to the point of devalue all other aspects of his life. The number of divorces for sports like triathlon is a known and proven subject. The 3 swimming, cycling and running training sessions per week (therefore 9 with a long outing) can put some couples at risk.
II Sport not for me
We need to remind ourselves of our physiology, which goes against our advertising culture of “having fun”. Our species is part of the vertebrate phylum, which means that we are made to move. This is about our survival in relation to the external elements, but also internal. Stress, to put it simply, is a boost to move (save or fight). When we read about the sports program of the astronauts of the International Space Station, we understand how important it is for us to stay in shape by exercising. They don't do sports on some funny machine just to do performance tests, but to keep their bodies in good condition, since all aging processes are accelerated in space by weightlessness, of course. , but also immobility.
Physiologically, it is an obligation. Without movement we lose:
- Bone mass,
- muscle mass,
- The power of our tendons,
- The tension and flexibility of our skin (including under the arms…),
- cardiac capacity,
- respiratory capacity,
- the cleansing ability of the body to extract waste,
- Immunity,
- hormonal balance.
III Sport and me
Everyone has the same basic physical needs: to drink, to eat, to transform sugar into energy. However, we are all unique, because of our origins, our environment and our personal history. It is therefore necessary to ask the question individually: in my current situation, what sport or what type of movement could I do?
In our culture, many people think that they have no right to enter this world because of its morphology. In addition, the increasingly strong consequences of body shaming have a lot to do with it.
Photos and videos of athletes on the networks help to perpetuate this very bad idea. Are they naturally athletic or are they just teenagers enjoying the metabolic benefits of youth? There was a time when visible abs were a sign that we were weak, unable to handle the tough times because we had no reserve. Subcutaneous fat manages our immunity, it secretes anti-microbial molecules against viruses and certain bacteria. What appears as perfectionism today was a sign of weakness before.
No, sport is not an area where only certain faces are allowed to exercise. Exercising doesn't have to mean being out of breath, in pain, or taking hours of rest. Ten minutes a day can provide some of the same physical and mental health benefits.
MY sport must be the best formula for ME.
CONCLU
Sport, in the sense of moving, is a necessary tool for our proper functioning. Our body works through movement. Originally, stress served as a survival mechanism, to get us moving when we were threatened. The image of amateur sport is distorted by the "appearance society" which only manipulates us to buy products.
We must see sport as a moment of pleasure and a tool for a better life. We have no obligation to do like the others, to have to calculate, compare, or even be out of breath... Obviously the concept of the pleasure of doing it must be a basis for development. We find it, looking for it...
When you are ready to get back to sport for good, I invite you to watch the video program (in French only) that I propose below.
Marco PAONESSA
Practitioner relaxologist accredited ASCA
Life Coach certified